Are Copycats Giving Satanists a Bad Name?

Satanists don’t deserve the bad rap they’re getting after the recent news linking accused killers to the Prince of Darkness. The words “satanic ritual murder” or “occult killing” set off alarms in God-fearing people, and that’s probably why prosecutors and the media ran with it.

This hit home when two Harris County teens were charged with capital murder recently in what the Houston Chronicle referred to as an “occult killing.” Other news outlets headlined it “deal with the devil” or “ritual murder.”

“You now have people who are practicing the illusion of the occult,” says Michael Bradley, a Satanist and a regular in Houston’s goth scene. When you hear about people, especially teens, killing in the name of the devil, there’s probably mental illness involved, and an imagination twisted on images from metal music groups and hit movies that teens consume in hopes of scaring the shit out of their parents.

Blaming a supernatural force for causing someone to commit murder is disturbing and sad, and at this point, very unoriginal. Claiming “I did it for the devil,” is no different from people saying they were commanded by angels, God or other voices to commit murder,” says Bradley. “It’s unfortunate that it’s sensationalized,” he said. “The supernatural, the occult, help to relieve people of their responsibility.”

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This video of South Korean pastor Bo Ra Choi’s vision of Muhammad in hell has been making its rounds among evangelicals in America. Recorded during worship in a South Korean church, the pastor is recounting the words of the suffering Muhammad in the grips of hell.

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